INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW allow them to carry out this task more or less effectively. And apart from the existence of mechanisms to control the tourist offer, it is true that, on many occasions, it has been the administrations themselves that have encouraged unsustainable tourism through the implementation of public policies aimed at the “touristification” of urban areas. Consequently, it is the public administrations that should, as I understand it, lead the change, firmly spearheading progress towards a sustainable tourism model from all perspectives. May the crisis generated by COVID-19 be, this time, the long-awaited turning point. Of course, public promotion measures, which have been developed in recent years since the beginning of the health crisis, first, and then the economic crisis (or simultaneously), are not ruled out. There has been a great deal of aid, both from the State and from the autonomous communities, municipalities, provincial councils and the European Union itself. From the European Union, it is worth highlighting the Thomas Cook line of financing for companies established in Spain in certain economic sectors, especially tourism. Thus, at the Extraordinary European Council of 10 March 2020, four priorities were identified: limiting the spread of the virus, supplying medical equipment, promoting research and addressing the socio-economic consequences. The Spanish government addressed this fourth priority in Royal Decree-Law 7/2020 of 12 March 2020, which adopts urgent measures to respond to the economic impact of COVID-19 (BOE 13 March 2020) and devotes chapter III to the articulation of a series of measures to support the tourism sector. But the question that arises next is whether this line of aid, whether this public promotion of the tourism sector tends to consolidate a model that has already been exhausted. In other words, is it efficient to spend public money on promoting a model that needs to be changed? There is no doubt, it is necessary to clarify that I defend the granting of indirect public aid such as, for example, reductions in social security contributions for workers and the self-employed or the suspension of the payment of official loans. But if the aim is to promote a change of model, it does not seem logical to spend resources on lines of aid that promote the consolidation of the previous model, i.e. the one we are trying to change. I believe that this aid should be used for purposes more in line with the model of sustainable tourism that is being advocated here. In such a way that the companies receiving the funds would undertake to meet a series of objectives previously designed by the public administrations responsible for tourism and to
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